RNLD
by NintendoGal55
Summary: Based on the adorable Disney & Pixar movie WALL-E, follow along with our hero, the lovable and curious Arnold as he goes from his life as a trash collector, to find out what he is truly meant for upon meeting the beautiful search scout Helga.
1. Out There

**Hello, everyone. :D Fellow Hey Arnold fans, WALL-E fans, and newcomers of both or one of the fandoms. Are we all having fun today? Yay!**

**So now, as you can see, this fanfic will be based on the awesome Disney and Pixar masterpiece WALL-E. Just with some Hey Arnold characters thrown into the mix, and some other modifications. It'll be humanized, too. Mostly.**

**So, here are the notable characters for this. You may have figured it out, but I shall let you all know anyway. **

**First off, in the movie, it was BnL (Buy N' Large), and replacing that for this will be the FTI (Future Tech Industries).**

**In the scenes on Earth, it takes place in New York City. Or what's left of it, rather. Here, we'll have Hillwood City, duh.**

**Arnold will be our WALL-E (Or he can be R-NLD)**

**Helga will be our EVE (Or L-GA)**

**Abner will be our Hal (WALL-E's pet cockroach)**

**Principal Wartz will be our Captain of the Axiom**

**Sid will be our M-O**

**XD We'll see everyone else as they are deemed appropriate. :D Also, if anyone can think of who can be who for the robots from the medical ward, that'd be great!**

**And oh, I want to also extend a huge thanks to whoadrep8 who made an AWESOME humanized novelization of WALL-E, who has also helped to inspire me to write this. I may steal a reference or two from him. XD **

**Hey Arnold belongs to Craig Bartlett, Nickelodeon and Viacom**

**WALL-E belongs to Disney and Pixar**

**--~~--**

Earth.

The third planet closest to the sun. The one planet that was known to support life. Over the hundreds of years that have passed, many things have changed, most especially as the new century came about, about a hundred or so years into it. It was, today, not the same in the least.

Today, that very planet, that once contained many and great legends that brought upon what it was once before, was in absolute ruin. More so than it could ever have been in its entire lifespan. For a planet billions of years old, it was quite surprising to see, though it has been over 700 years since it began. Seen either from space, or upon its surface, it was overrun by its very stand-by demise.

Pollution.

It was a mark. A mark left by what had formerly populated this planet. Humans. All that was left was nothing. The entire population of this planet, having reached over six billion, was now gone. Not one remained right now. The planet was empty. Empty of what was once keeping it full. Empty of what had caused it to become what it was now. All across the landscape, littered about, were piles upon piles of garbage. The air was thick with pollution, most if not all water sources were dried up. All of the continents had become desolate wastelands, containing mountains of garbage seen from afar. All of which resembling tundras and desert wastelands. It was a mess, a very big mess.

Notably here, in the FTI Cleanup Sector _NA-001_, formerly known as Hillwood city, also where the very corporation, Future Tech Industries, had begun, hundreds of years ago. Most if not all the buildings along downtown were either dwarfed or buried under taller piles of trash cubes. They stretched for miles, seemingly endless and all around. The bay had long since dried up, the bridges and once highway overpasses were either destroyed or partly gone. It was all, like the rest of the world now, one polluted valley.

It too, was lacking any sort of human life. Nothing moved. Only the volatile winds that would occasionally blow were even close to movement. It was so big, so quiet, so desolate. Not a living thing seemed to be in sight for miles.

However, if one could hear, there was the sound of music chirping heard. Like a whisper in the winds, but loud and clear. Within the distance, among the trash along the streets and buildings, was a single human traversing the lonely, polluted grounds.

So it wasn't so devoid of life after all.

--

"_And we won't come back until we've kissed a girl..._"

A lone, human male was traversing the desolate, littered streets of what was once Hillwood, just on another day of doing his job. Or his "directive", as it was commonly known throughout his life. The music turned out to be coming from an ancient cassette player the human seemed to have with him. Though eroded with static from abuse and age, it was still playable. In his heavily gloved hands, he held a shovel, and made his way over to a pile of trash.

Set around the Sector were old, ancient trash compactors, which were of course used to compact the trash into cubes. The human scooped some garbage into the compactor, which whirred to life although very weakly, its hydraulics grinding the trash as it compresses it. It then opened, spitting out a 2x2ft cube of trash. With practiced ease, the young man picked it up, it weighed around 50 pounds or so. He then carried it down the street toward a tower of trash.

Following behind him was another life form, a small, pink pig.

Up they went on the tower of trash, with ease since having done this most of his life. The human then reached the top, and placed the cube on top of some other cubes. He gave a sigh of relief and leaned back against the cubes to rest for a little bit.

"Phew." The human spoke, wiping across his forehead.

The young man was Arnold, around 18-19 years old, standing at about 5'9", with an oblong shaped head, or rather known, an American football. His hair was blonde, and stuck upward on his head, parted in the middle, in slight arcs pointing in both directions with unruly ends. His exposed skin and some parts of his hair were dirty from dust and the unforgiving sun.

He wore an old, brown jumpsuit that was marred with dirt, oil, dust, sweat and grease, the sleeves were white and black stripes. On his left side was the FTI logo, beneath it was his name, though it was barely readable. His unseen eyes were covered by a pair of blue-tinted, UVA/UVB protection goggles strapped around his head. In the middle on a small bald spot separating the two sides of his standing hair, a tiny silvery-white cap rested there. He wore dark, heavy boots on his feet and a pair of faded brown gloves with red stripes.

Strapped around his waist was a thick dark brown belt, with the aforementioned cassette player strapped to it, as well as a utility bag, and an igloo lunchox.

Arnold turned and looked back at the pile of cubes, and then noticed something shiny within a nearby cube.

"Hey, what's that?"

Curious, he approached it, and grabbed the metal, shiny thing. He grabbed hold of it, attempting to pull it out. Nothing. He tried again, pulling with all of his strength and still nothing. Sighing, he yanked it again with all of his strength, his feet on the cubes. Finally, the object sprung free and he fell down to the ground on his back, thankfully not off the tower.

Sitting up, Arnold studied the object curiously. It turned out to be an old, metal tin trash can lid.

"Well how do you like that." He said to himself, smiling bemusedly. "An old trash can lid. How ironic."

He was a pretty curious boy, he had been all his life. And something so simple like this could still appease his curiosity.

Getting back up, Arnold looked to the distance, seeing that the sun was slowly dipping in the horizon, seeing that it was going to be dark soon. Turning off his cassette player, which filled the Metropolitan area with dead silence, he decided to call it a day.

"C'mon Abner, let's go home." He said to his pet pig, and then went down the makeshift ramp.

The two descended down the 3000ft tower of trash, down to the streets below to soon get home after yet another long day.


	2. Walk Home

**Here we go! Chapter two.**

**Not much to say here! Just enjoy. Also, the chapters and chapter titles will be based on the scene selection of the movie, just so you know. I may have to modify some words, but in all they'll be the same.**

**Um...**

**AxH FOREVER!!! :D**

**--~~--**

Just like any other day, Arnold ventured home through the toxic city after a long day of following his directive. It always the same, dismal thing, day after day, with not a sound to be heard, other than his own footsteps crunching into something on the ground, from various kinds of trash to newspapers. Old, aged, weathered newspapers barely legible because of dirt, reading: _**TOO MUCH TRASH! EARTH COVERED! FTI CEO DECLARES GLOBAL EMERGENCY!!!**_ All around this old neighbourhood, were the FTI outlets. Stores, a gas station, a bank, a mall, restaurants, skyscrapers. Holoscreens stood about the place, representing the FTI logo, which were yellow letters, the F and the T connected together, and the I was separate from the too, and was in smaller casing than the F and T.

He walked over the remains of what was once Tina Park, to make a shortcut to get home.

This was, part of the most unpleasant moments of his walk home.

All around him, within the piles of trash and even on the ground, were several dead bodies of humans. Skeletal remains, some still wearing clothing. It was proof that this job was indeed deadly. Workers always found themselves falling off trash towers, being buried alive within said trash, killed by a sandstorm, or worse, murdered. Many workers, selected hundreds of years ago back in the year 2105, part of his predecessors and ancestors, were to clean up the trash all around this sector. Mass starvation, sandstorms, murder, cannibalism, disease, pollution dangers, were all evident in this job, especially today, 700 years later.

Arnold kept his gaze fixated straight ahead. Nothing depressed him more than to look upon his fallen brethren. The workers, years ago, who had survived at the time of his birth, were the only family he ever had. He didn't even know who his parents had been. Throughout the years of his growing up and learning to tasks he had to fulfill as part of his directive, even the workers around him turned on him and others, and he had managed to survive being just a child. Eventually the others around him dropped dead for any reason at all, especially in this harsh, polluted, unforgiving environment. Their bodies, were just a reminder, of how ugly this world was now, with nature and time eating them away slowly. Humans now were on the verge of extinction, if not already.

The question to others might be, was he really the only one left? Was there someone else, maybe not here, but farther out? In another former state? Another country? Or even another continent altogether? Was there someone else out there, alone just like he was?

He didn't know.

Arnold just walked on, his unease urging him to go faster. He then came to a stop and was snapped out of his reverie by a sharp pain in his foot. Looking down, he came to see that his boots had been worn to his feet, and he needed a new pair.

"Oh no, not again." He groaned.

It was always hard when this happened. When his "brothers" turned on everyone, even him, when in need for something to survive, he couldn't find it in himself to fight back or kill them in defense. Instead he would just run in hide, scared to even try anything. Arnold was always one to do the right thing, and not once in his life had he turned on one of his brethren when in need of survival. If he needed something, he'd find another way to do it without harming someone.

And now, especially at a time like this, he felt the overwhelming guilt. He needed a new pair of boots, and could see a nearby fallen worker had on the boots he needed. He hated doing this, it made him feel like a grave robber. On top of that, he felt guilty and bad for them, that they had been the ones to die and not him. He hated taking things, but he knew there wasn't much he nor anyone could do about it now.

"I'm sorry..." Arnold spoke softly to the fallen worker as he carefully, respectfully exchanged their boots. "Rest well, my fallen comrade."

--

Now with a new set of boots, Arnold continued on across a partly fallen bridge, followed by Abner as they made their way around lower Hillwood, past an old train station and coming closer to his home.

As he went along, a hi-tech holo-Ad appeared along the walls of the old buildings which displayed static images of luxurious FTI ships leaving Earth. Then a voice came over the images.

"_Too much garbage in your face? There's plenty of space out in space!_"

Images of workers like himself came onto the screen, happily content with working as they cleaned up garbage and set them into the trash compactors. It looked like a typical janitorial advertisement.

"_FTI Star liners leaving each day, we'll clean up the mess while you're away!_"

"Yeah right." Arnold muttered to himself, trying to tune it out as he approached what was once Vine Street, just the road that led him home.

The holo-Ad appeared once again, continuing its advertisement. "_The jewel of the FTI fleet: The Axiom._" An image of an amazing, gargantuan starship appeared as it floated through the endless stars of space, followed by images of people swimming, lounging, getting massages, tanning, and all kinds of luxuries that Arnold just couldn't imagine. "_Spend your five year cruise in style! Waited upon 24 hours a day by our fully automated crew, while your Captain charts a course for non-stop entertainment, fine dining, and with our all access hover chairs, even grandma can join the fun, there's no need to walk!_"

A sigh escaped the football-headed boy as he trudged on, feeling a deep down unintentional resentment for all those who were facing luxury of all kinds at their beck and call while he and others down here suffered tremendously.

"_The Axiom, putting the star in executive starliner!_" A man in a fine suit appeared on the screen, waving to a spaceship lifting off from earth. It was the former C.E.O of the FTI, known as Scheck. "_Because at FTI, change is good!_"

Sparing the ad no further thought, Arnold gave a sigh of relief as he came down Vine Street, and his home was clear in sight. Finally.

His home was once a boarding house called the Sunset Arms, which was just as lonely, desolate and abandoned as most of the buildings, but it was still intact and livable, standing on its own. Most of it was destroyed, except for the top section, the roof, and the interior that still remained. Arnold went up a ramp to replace the stairs of the front stoop, and opened the large, metal door that also replaced the front door many years ago.

Finally, he was home for the day.


	3. Arnold's Room

**I want to give a quick shout out to SuperSingr who portrays the BEST love sick Arnold I've ever seen. :D You rock, girly!**

**--**

The inside of the old boarding house, was in ruins and shut down, except for a staircase leading up to the upper level that took up the floor, that was once an attic. It was Arnold's home.

He climbed the staircase, coming to his room. On a table near the stairs was a small, ancient remote containing a few buttons. He picked it up, and with it, turned on some lights, Christmas lights, and also, flipped a couch out from behind a nearby wall. On the wall hung many hang-up toys, C.D's, and other things.

His room was large, spacious, containing several rotating shelves that held all kinds of items he'd found in the garbage. Toys, utensils, hardware, appliances, clothing, anything. He had just about the entire world right here in his room. On a good portion of the ceiling, was a skylight made of several windows. Below the skylight was his bed, and against the wall across from his bed leading up to it, were large, rectangular grooves built in as a makeshift ladder he could climb and go out onto the roof through one of the openable windows of the skylight. Across the room from where his bed was, a desk sat there, with an old but still working TV and VCR.

On the shelves near his bed, was a stereo and other paraphernalia for an advanced sound system. Despite everything, he had a pretty cool room.

Arnold smiled and hummed cheerfully to himself, taking off his boots and gloves, placing them on and near the table next to the stairs. He removed his goggles, revealing to have jelly bean green eyes, and set the goggles on the table next to his gloves.

He then went over to a toaster, taking out an old VHS tape from it that was labeled _Hello Dolly, _and placed it in the VCR, turning it on. The TV flickered to life and displayed the colourful image of the actors dancing and singing his favourite song _Put On Your Sunday Clothes_. While the sound and image quality were pretty poor, it still worked just fine, that was what mattered.

Humming along to the music, Arnold then pulled out the things he found in the trash he carried in his igloo lunchbox, and he remembered the trash can lid he'd found, having kept it in his utility bag. Looking at it, he glanced back at the TV screen, and realized he could use it as a hat and dance to his favourite tune with it.

"That's pretty dandy." Arnold said to himself, snickering a little as he placed it aside with the rest of his treasures.

He pulled out an unsolved Rubrics cube gazing over it curiously and decided to try to solve it later. Then a small spork, which he hadn't seen before, and isn't sure whether to put it with the forks or the spoons.

"Oh well, I'll figure it out later." Arnold placed the spork in between both cups.

Then he pulled out a silver zippo lighter with the FTI logo branded on it. Arnold took the remote and held a button down to rotate the shelves, one of them revealing a small box filled with the lighters. He carefully aligned it with the rest of them and grinned.

"Perfect." He said.

As he rummaged and arranged his collection of treasures, Arnold headed to get something else, but then was suddenly drawn back to the TV screen in a snap. New music was playing from the video, and it was different from the cheerful, energetic beat of _POYSC_. This one was soft, soothing, slow, and very sweet. On the screen was a handsome man singing along with a beautiful woman, while they kissed and most notably, held hands.

Mesmerized by the image, Arnold hit RECORD on his cassette player, not once taking his eyes off the screen.

"_And that is all... That love's about... And we'll recall...When time runs out..._"

Love... That was a new thing he learned just now. It was something, a feeling rather, that you didn't understand, but you would feel it. And when you felt it, you would know. It was a beautiful, happy feeling, and he liked the sound of it. Love.

"_That it only... Took a moment... To be loved... A whole life long..._"

Arnold was so lost in thought as he stood there, listening to the beautiful, soft and sweet song, that he didn't even realize that he was holding his own hands. The song was so caring and soft, it made him imagine what it would have been like to hold a woman's hand, to share such wonderful emotions and feelings with another, to feel like it was the best thing in the world. To love, and to be loved. It had to be the most beautiful thing in the world.

Looking down at his joined hands, Arnold sighed and was back to reality, the void of isolation and loneliness. He let his hands drop to his sides, shaking his head. What was the use, there was nothing out there, let alone anything beautiful. He sighed again, pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind and grabbed his bag, going up the ladder and out onto his roof.

It was the hour of twilight, and the winds were picking up a bit by now. He cleaned out his bag, feeling a sort of comfort from the breeze blowing by. As he did, he looked up at the sky, and gave a soft gasp at what he saw.

Through a circle of clouds that had broken up, he could see a dark, night sky, filled with stars. Barely once in his life had he seen a true night sky before. It was truly something else. Something so...

Beautiful.

Was that what love felt like? Was that how it felt to hold someone's hand? He wondered, deep down, what love was truly like. Though he didn't remember his parents, by name or anything, as well as other painful memories, he did have a photo of them. For the rest of his life, he'd been raised by his "brothers", learning only to read, speak, survive, collect trash, and that was it. He didn't even know where his parents were, if they were even alive or not. Nor did he know of any living relatives he may have had.

So many questions, so many feelings...

Arnold still stared at the stars, his hand reaching down to press PLAY on his cassette player. _It Only Took A Moment_ began to play, the soft, beautiful music he liked now, adjoined with the beauty of the star-studded night sky...

"Love....is that where it is? ...Is love up there...?" Arnold wondered softly to himself.

Even so, he knew, that down here, alone on this desolate forsaken planet, he was alone. Very alone. No one but Abner to turn to. Since the deaths of his brethren, he has had no human contact, let alone feeling love. All that came close was the little silver hat he wore on his head, which had been a gift from his parents. It was all he remembered.

All of a sudden, the shrill cry of an alarm from down below in his room, he panicked a moment, and looked off to see the winds picking up, as well as huge wall of dust come flying toward the outskirts of the city. He quickly cleaned out his bag and then rushed back down into his room, and saw Abner still out there.

"ABNER!" He yelled to the pig, who came running and went into his room through the window. Arnold shut the window tight and then climbed back down into his room, taking his remote to activate the protective shield that covered the skylight from the outside.

Safe and sound, Arnold took a deep breath and saw Abner looking up at him pleadingly. Understanding, he took out an FTI Twinkie from a nearby box, and fed it to Abner, all the while taking a packet of crackers and eating them as well.

Abner looked up at Arnold, who smiled and patted his head. The pig then snorted and yawned, going over to a dog cushion and settling on it, going to sleep.

Following his lead, Arnold took off his suit, and pulled on a light blue nightshirt, his only other piece of clothing. He then took off his little hat and hung it up on a small hook next to his bed, and settled down on the mattress with a heavy breath. He knew he wouldn't sleep easy tonight, given all that went on day after day, the sandstorm outside, the isolation and loneliness...everything.

Still, an uneasy sleep was better than no sleep at all.

Arnold rolled onto his back, and took a small photo from his shelf. It was a photo of a man and a woman standing together, in work clothes much like his own. The man was tall, with blonde hair and bright green eyes, grinning with much enthusiasm. The woman next to him had a round, shapely head, though not as oblong, short brown hair, and wore a warm smile. His parents. The only piece of them he had left, besides his hat. He sighed, placing the photo back where it was and then settled in bed, closing his eyes as sleep began to overtake him, with the soft, soothing music of _IOTAM_ playing.


	4. A Day At Work

"Hey Arnold! Hey Arnold! Hey Arnold! Hey Arnold!"

A disgruntled groan came from the sleeping young man, reaching up to unplug the strangely programed alarm clock he'd put together years ago, from a potato. He sighed heavily and tried to open his eyes, his lids feeling like they weighed a thousand pounds.

Groaning again, he managed to sit up, reach for his remote, and used it to remove the outer shield from his skylight, letting in the sunlight, which blinded him for a moment before he reluctantly got out of bed to get ready for the day.

Routine really did bite sometimes.

Arnold slowly dressed, pulling on his jumpsuit, his boots, his gloves, and then placed his goggles on. And then, his little cap. Now he's ready and awake, ready to face another day of fulfilling his directive. It was all he could do, all that he knew. A new routine seemed like such an impossible dream.

This was his life. He would likely be collecting and compacting trash for the rest of his life, until the day he died. All hope was just lost, if he had any. Still, he was alive, he had to make use of it somehow.

Zoned out, Arnold didn't even notice that he had stepped on Abner's curly tail, making him gasp and jump in surprise. Abner did too, but he was perfectly all right. With a sigh of relief, he took his bag, shovel, and headed out. Abner followed after him, but Arnold turned back and pointed down at the ground in front of the pig.

"Stay." He commanded with a stern gaze.

Abner did, sitting down on the spot like a dog would. Arnold smiled at him and then headed outside to get to work.

--

Scoop, shovel, compact. Scoop, shovel, compact.

Arnold grouched slightly at the monotony way of how his job carried out. None the less, he kept at it, making about ten cubes per minute as he worked in a new section of upper downtown Hillwood. Occasionally, of course, he would come across something to add to his bag that he'd take back home with him to add to his collection of various treasures.

One item he found was an article of clothing he didn't recognize. It was a thin strip of cloth, with small hooks on the back ends, with two large spheres that resembled cups along it. He studied it, and then placed it over his goggled eyes. What the heck was this thing? Why would you wear it over your eyes? You couldn't see right with it anyway! Still, he tossed it into his igloo lunchbox set on the ground behind him.

Over the course of the day he found some other little things he could collect. Some rubber toys in the shape of animals and a bobble head. He found a ring of keys that had a small little device attached to them with a few buttons on it. Curious, he clicked a button, and heard the chirping sound of a car alarm way off in the distance. Arnold then found a paddle, with a rubber ball attached to a string on it, which was fun for a few moments until it then hit him repeatedly in the face. He didn't like that one.

He also found a small, square-shaped comfortably-feeling box containing a small diamond ring inside. Then he found a strange red container that was a foam displacement device that actually sent him knocked off his feet. He didn't like it either and tossed it away.

The day dragged on. Cube after cube of garbage was made, stacked and stacked, with Arnold working tirelessly and not stopping for anything.

Until he found the one little thing, that he did not know would change his life forever.

"What's in here?" Arnold wondered, tapping on a rusted, old refrigerator.

It wouldn't open, so he then reached into bag holding some little tools, and produced a small, silver cylinder. He pressed a button, and out shot a laser, which cut through the refrigerator door like a knife on warm butter. He sliced the doors in half, which fell away, and inside he found something he'd never seen before.

It was a plant. A simple weed of a tree seedling. Biological, living. Arnold's curiosity was peaked, unable to believe he'd found such a thing. Though he was unsure of what it was, he knew it wasn't like the inanimate objects he'd found before. Something in him told him that this thing needed to be taken care of, just like Abner.

"Ooooooh!" He exclaimed, awed by the tiny little thing. "Wow..."

It may have been small, insignificant, frail, but it was so alive. And so bright, compared to everything else seen in this world now. So Arnold gently scooped up the plant in some of the soil it was growing in, and placed it into an old weathered boot he had found earlier. He wiped the dirt off it, still very fascinated by this.

--

Later on, after yet another long day, Arnold decided to call it quits and head on back home. As he went along, his thoughts kept reverting back to the strange little plant he'd found earlier, still very curious and fascinated about it. It was something beautiful, in its own way, and it was something to be cared for. It was so unusual, he wanted to know more about it, wondering what it was, and why it seemed to be so...important, somehow.

As he neared home, Arnold then spotted something off to his right, which caught his eye...


	5. Helga Arrives

**Here it is boys and girls, the arrival of our second protagonist, Helga. :D**

**XD I love a lovesick Arnold, I really do. OwO  
**

**Originally I was going to wait another day or two, but what the hell, I know you guys are all anxious for Helga to come in and Arnold to fall ga-ga in love. xD Hee hee! You guys are all awesome. C'mere! (Hugs you all)  
**

**--~~--**

A small, glowing red dot was on the ground, seeming to have appeared out of nowhere. Confused, Arnold stared at it, and lifted up his goggles to try to see it better. Was he seeing things?

"Maybe it's some kind of a bug..." Arnold murmured to himself, setting down his shovel and bag, wandering over to the circle. He was very curious, and just had to find out what it was.

He approached it, and the dot moved away, as if trying to get away from him. It moved again as he tried to block it, and it moved around him, making him try to catch it. Arnold couldn't help but give a smile and find some fun in chasing it. It was something different, having something like this to chase around and play with.

The dot then moved rapidly toward the bridge, and Arnold playfully chased after it.

"I'm gonna getchya! Come back here!" He laughed as he chased it, acting half his age.

Arnold continued to chase after the mysterious red dot, not at all noticing several other red dots behind him, all falling over the landscape and buildings. There were hundreds, no, thousands of them, all encircled around the single dot Arnold was chasing after. He didn't know that the very dot he was trying to catch was actually the central target in the middle of the other target dots.

He chased it into the open trenches of the dried up Hillwood harbour, which was now a desolate valley.

The red dot came to a stop in the middle of it all, and Arnold caught up to it. Grinning, he reached out to touch it.

"Gotcha!" He said in triumph, but his expression twisted into confusion. His hand went through it. "Huh?! What the..."

The blonde boy tried again, coming to find that it was just a light. At that moment, the once large circle of other red lights had closed up smaller and smaller, and were now surrounding the light circle he had been chasing just moments ago. All of a sudden, the ground started shaking, and the air was getting hotter and hotter.

Panic coursed through the normally calm boy, and he looked around frantically, wondering what the heck was going on. A low roar was heard, and finally he looked up, coming to see three balls of fire coming straight down toward him! Now more panicked than before, and Arnold ran around in every direction possible to try to escape the oncoming danger, with no clue what to do or where to go or how to protect himself. He was in fact, scared to death.

The noise was getting louder, louder and louder, and the heat had increased to the point of absolute scorcher! As Arnold ran, a column of fire from above came crashing down before him, and he let out a terrified yelp and ran away from it, only to be met by a second column come crashing down not far from the first one. He was knocked off his feet, going flying a few feet away.

With a mechanical whir, and as the threat from above came settling down onto the ground, Arnold could now see, as the dust cleared, that it was a rocket ship. Though shaken up and scared, he was quite fascinated, having not seen a real rocket ship before. It stood tall, with three extended engines, and it had the FTi logo on one side, as well as ARV printed along it. Cautious and curious, Arnold slowly made his way to approach it, when a sudden noise, a loud whirring sound cutting through the silent atmosphere and an opening hatch hissed at the rear of the ship.

Shocked, Arnold dove behind a nearby rock formation some yards away, watching the ship as he came to realize that the strange sound just a moment ago had been pressurized air escaping the said vessel. No danger there. And it WAS an FTi rocket ship, so it obviously wasn't a threat, right?

Still, what was in there? Why was it here? What was going on? So many questions were buzzing in his football-shaped head, as he watched what was happening before his eyes.

A long, mechanical, robotic arm then lowered something from the opening, which was a strange-looking 6 and a half ft cylindrical capsule, made of pure, white translucent metal. Printed on one side were the letters E.V.E. Scout #001: L-GA. Was that some kind of code or something?

Whatever it was, Arnold was quite fascinated, wondering what it was and what was inside it. Not to mention wondering what the strange print on it meant. He raised his head a little more to peek over a hole in the rock formation to see what it all was, jumping at each sound the machines made. He watched as a smaller, robotic arm emerged from the previous arm, and a small hatch on the capsule opened, to reveal a keypad consisting of various-shaped buttons. The small robotic arm punched in a code on the keypad, and with a loud PSSSSSSSSSSSSSST noise, the pod then opened as if breaking apart, and opened up to reveal what was inside, before it shrunk down to the size of a bean, and landed in...

The palm of a human hand.

From inside the pod, now standing on the ground where it once had been, was a human.

A woman.

The most beautiful human woman.

The instant Arnold laid his eyes on her, he was entranced.

--

Helga Geraldine Pataki. Future Tech Industries Axiom E.V.E. (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) Scout #001, codename L-GA.

She was a beautiful, in a different kind of way, tall woman standing at about 5'9". She had a thin, athletic body tone, with the softest-looking pale skin. Her eyes were the purest blue he'd ever seen, wandering about as she scanned the area around her. A small, round nose that was shaped somewhat like a G, pink lips, soft cheeks, and quite notably, a black unibrow, which although was strange and rather striking, it only added to her charm. Her hair was a beautiful shade of blonde, tied back in a single ponytail, with a pure white silvery bow sitting on her head. A black, transparent HUD visor sat on her forehead, which she lowered down over her eyes. She was young, around his age, and looked immaculately clean and healthy.

She was dressed in a pure white, skintight jumpsuit that hugged her curves, and with a utility belt tied around her waist with all kinds of equipment strapped to it for survival. The FTi logo was written on her right arm, along with some writing that he couldn't read from where he was, and a strange green plant symbol on the left breast side of her suit. Along with her suit were equally pure white knee-high boots with an anti-gravitation function built in, and pure white skin tight gloves going half past her elbows. She moved around gracefully, tucking the now pocket-sized cylindrical pod into into her little pack strapped to her belt. She then took a small holopad, attached to a grip handle, and scanned the area before her.

_Boop boop boop-beep_.

For what seemed like an eternity, though in reality it was only a couple of seconds, Arnold was completely captivated by her image. He'd been so used until now, with the simplicities of his little treasures, his room, and everything else around him. She was, undoubtedly, the most beautiful thing, no, human he had ever seen in his entire life. Though to most she would not be considered as such, to him, she was. Looking upon her, she was almost blinding to look at, and seemed so out of place among the desolate wasteland of an atmosphere around them. Looking at her was as if he were looking at the stars, the entire cosmos itself, that by now paled in comparison to her. The moment he saw her, his entire universe shattered, and he knew now that his life would never be the same again.

She was, to him at least, the very definition of beautiful.

"Beautiful...." Arnold murmured to himself, not once taking his eyes off the beautiful angel of a woman. _She's so beautiful, I..._

Time itself seemed to slow, even freeze, as he watched her, and felt something slowly build up inside within. He could feel it clearly, the sense of warmth, yearning, passion, something he had never felt before, and now knew.

Love.

He'd been so entranced by the gorgeous creature that he barely even took note of the ship firing up and ready to take off. It was only when the ground began to shake and the air around him grew heated again. Panicked, Arnold ducked lower behind the rock formation he was hiding behind, as the rocket lifted off the ground and took off into the polluted sky, a column of fire and smoke in its wake.

Once it was safely several feet up, Arnold peeked back over the rock, just now remembering the woman. She stood further away from where she'd previously been, looking completely unfazed as she moved about gracefully. She then looked up at the rocket ship as it was taking off, disappearing higher and higher into the sky, as if making sure it was leaving. Once it was safely out of sight, she looked around to make sure no one was looking, and then kicked her now glowing anti-gravitational boots into gear, and rose into the air, spinning lightly like one of those dancers known as ballerinas, with no sound at all.

"Whoa!" Arnold exclaimed in surprise, all the more enchanted by her. "She can fly..." He said to himself in amazement.

The young woman came to a stop in midair, and within a moment, she whipped off into the distance, her boots leaving a contour of trails in their wake. She flew around fluidly like a bird with the need to be free, appearing to be in such pure grace and ecstasy as she flew through the air, her blonde gravity-defying ponytail and white bow waving in the wind as she went.

Following her fluid movements, Arnold whistled lowly as he was enchanted by her graceful flight, such impossible beauty. She flew around the trash buildings, finishing a high loop and made a low pass over him, not noticing him, leaving a trail of dust behind.

He continued to watch after her flawless flying, wondering if she was really an angel. So smooth, so regal, so beautiful. Every moment he watched her, the blonde boy was becoming more and more lovedrunk than before, if that was possible.

"Awwwwh..." Arnold cooed as his eyes worked to keep up with her, his gaze becoming lovesick and his eyes half-lidded, a goofy smile stretching on his lips.

Like a graceful end to a crescendo, the woman hovered over the spot she'd started off on, looking quite refreshed and in ecstasy, not at once noticing her innocently curious audience hidden away in the rock formation some yards away from her, with longing eyes. Her gaze, having earlier been blank, even a bit of a scowl, was now a calm, warm and happy smile, her eyes seeming to sparkle though they were somewhat hidden behind her black transparent HUD visor goggle.

"Wow...." He uttered under his breath, looking to her in a lovesick daze.

As he'd been watching her dance in the sky, a strange new feeling coursed through him and he felt, as if he'd been there, dancing along with her, just like last night in his favourite movie. And then another thought occurred, the idea of holding her hand, expressing his emotions to her, making her feel what he was feeling, making her see how he saw her. Everything.

_If I could dance with her like that..._ A faint pink blush settled on his cheeks.

It was then he knew what falling in love meant. It was then he knew, with no doubt in his mind, just like the beautiful _IOTAM _scene from the movie, he had fallen in love. He was in love.

Just as this new revelation struck him, he had accidentally clipped off a piece of the rock, which fell to the ground lightly. Surprised, he looked down at the rock and then turned to look back at the enchanting woman, just in time to see her suddenly whip around, fast as lightning, and then-

**KABOOOOM!**

Seen from afar, a mushroom shaped cloud rose from the dried up bay, alerting Abner, who was sitting at the roof of the old boarding house. What was that about?

--

Eyes trained on her target, Helga stood, keeping her now-drawn high-powered Type-2 DEW plasma rifle, aimed dead centre at the spot she'd shot at. Her sonic hearing had caught the sound of a simple rock falling to the ground, and with her lightning-quick reflexes, turned around in half a second and shot at the supposed threat. With her combat stance, her HUD visor goggle over her eyes, she looked like a deadly, empathetic, trained soldier.

She waited for the smoke to clear, unmoving, to see what had caused the noise, to see the threat. She didn't want anyone watching her dance around in the sky, her joy flight. This entire job, or rather, her "directive", was the least bit of fun, and her only given moments of taking joy in being free were moments like this, taking time to fly around and feel like a bird.

The smoke cleared, her eyes still on the target, unblinking, all she saw were the remains of rock formation, having taken in her blast. She saw now, a single rock laying next to it, smoldering hot. That's what it had been, just a rock.

_Huh, a rock._ She thought, and with a few practiced flips of her plasma rifle, Clint Eastwood style, hoistered it to its strap on her belt. _At least my reflexes are still sharp as ever._

Helga lifted her HUD visor back up onto her head, and then returned to scanning the area around her with her hand-held holopad, as if nothing had happened. She didn't notice the wide-eyed, terrified human male hidden behind the rock, laying on the ground on his stomach, his ands over his head. The blast had missed him by a fraction of an inch, and the normally calm boy was now shaking uncontrollably with fear.


	6. Confrontation

_Boop-boop-boop beep._

Helga continued to scan the area around her, using her hand-held holopad, which emitted a ray of blue light that looked like a laser grid on every object she came across, trying to find what she was looking for.

So far? No success.

It was always dismal coming to this God forsaken planet. Nothing but trash, trash, desolate wastelands, trash, nothing but trash! Anywhere she went, she would always come out empty, just as her brethren, other E.V.E. Scouts would. Why? Why bother? The planet had been searched for 700 years, and always had the same result. What made them think this was going to be any different?

Sometimes, Helga just hated this job. But she knew she had to do it. Someone had to. The only real joy she ever got out of it was being able to fly around freely like a bird and not have a care in the world. It was pretty much the only ounce of true happiness she ever got.

_Boop-boop-boop beep._

Once more, her holopad processed and came back negative. Still nothing.

_What makes ANYONE think there's anything biological on this forsaken rock!?_ Helga thought angrily, but she kept her composure and kept scanning around, with a scowl present on her face.

She of course, not once noticed a certain human following her around. As far as she was concerned, no living thing was around here. And no wonder, how could anyone survive in this?

--

For the past couple of hours, Arnold had followed at a fair distance so as not to be caught nor detected by her. While his instincts told him to stay away, since she was indeed very hostile and deadly, he just couldn't. His intrigue to her, inquisitiveness to her, just kept him from obeying his own command.

There was also, something deep in his mind that told him that there was more to her than meets the eye. He believed she wasn't a heartless, deadly soldier. She must have had feelings. Seeing her fly around like a joyful bird, she seemed so happy and relaxed, not a hint of evil. Still...what happened to her? Why did she suddenly become hostile?

He had to find out. He just couldn't stay away. Plus, this was the first human he had ever seen in such a long time. It was better than being alone, and this was his first opportunity to have a social interaction with someone.

Arnold watched, hidden safely behind a pile of trash, as she scanned a couple of pillars. Negative, she once again moved on, and he followed, far behind. Careful not to make a sound.

Still, another problem arose then.

How was he going to approach her and introduce himself without being blown to smithereens?

As he pondered this, his train of thought were interrupted as he saw Abner now walking toward Helga, excitedly. He let out a gasp and hid for cover behind some tires, hissing quietly as he could for Abner to come back, but the pig didn't listen to him.

"Oh no...Abner..." Arnold moaned, expecting the worst.

All the while, Helga was still scanning, until...

"Oink!"

At the sudden noise, Helga whipped around in half a second and fired her plasma rifle at the noise, her cold stare trained on the sound that had alerted and startled her ever so slightly. This had been the second occurrence, and while she wasn't spooked nor easily spooked, she just knew it was better to deal with it this way.

Arnold was gut-punched, unable to think clearly at seeing his only friend get blown up.

As the smoke cleared, Abner emerged from behind a pile of garbage unscathed! He shook his body and his head to ward the dust off him, and approached Helga, smiling big at her. If his curly tail could wag like a dog, it probably would have been. Helga lowered her weapon and hoisted it, a friendly smile of intrigue came across her face and she knelt down before the pig, petting him.

"Awww! A piggy!" Helga cooed, lifting her HUD visor to see him better and patted his head and scratched his ears. She giggled as Abner licked her like a dog, which was ticklish. "Hey piggy, what are you doing out here? Are you here all by yourself?"

That voice...

Cautiously peeking over, Arnold had not only been dazed the beauty of her voice, the sweetest most beautiful he'd ever heard, but also by how Abner had been able to soften and befriend such a deadly human female. Had he been right the first time? He had to have been, she seemed so soft and sweet. She really was a good person, just as he thought.

A chuckle of relief escaped him then.

Big mistake.

Faster than he could blink, Helga stood in a combat stance and drew her plasma rifle and lowered her HUD visor, shooting now at the pile of tires he'd been hiding behind. She spotted another life form, running for cover, which she blew off, he did again, and she blew it again.

_Gotcha._ She thought, now seeing the human who had been stalking her had no place to hide.

"You!" She called to the other human, her voice and eyes lacing with venom and such a deadly sting.

In the middle of all the smoke, Arnold knew he was trapped, and had no other place to hide. Instead he stood, shaking in his boots and unable to move or run. His eyes squeezed shut and he lowered his head.

Her weapon trained on him, she stopped shooting and approached him, stepping closer, her gaze and gun never once leaving her target.

"Who are you?!" Helga demanded. "Why are you following me?! Identify yourself!"

--

Arnold waited and waited for the blast that would finish him off, but nothing happened. Gingerly, he opened his eyes, coming to see a pair of white antigrav boots, further up were thin but muscled-tone legs, to a female torso, the flat expanse of her abdomen evident through her skintight suit, the swell of her well-sized hips, the firm, round curvatures of her breasts-in turn making him blush for daring to look at a woman in such a way-, then up her long, thin but toned arms, her narrow shoulders, her thin neck where her suit met with her skin, and finally to her face. Her eyes, though seen through her HUD visor, were deadly and serious, her unibrow accompanying to make the expression a lot more intimidating. Her blonde ponytail rested in place, with her white silvery bow resting on her head. Even now, she still had those angelic features he'd taken in the first time he saw her. She had the face of a trained killer, with the combat stance to complete it and yet, still looked just as beautiful.

Though this wasn't the greatest of circumstances, with her standing right in front of him, her plasma rifle aimed right between his eyes no less than 12 inches from his face, he still took in the sight of her up close.

A few tense seconds passed, and the young woman lifted her HUD visor up to her forehead, her weapon still trained on him. The smoke by now had cleared, with the sun shining upon her and her suit. She was indeed, seductively strong, sending the fiery feelings of lust and passion through his veins, and yet, she could also break every bone in his body if given the chance. She was beautiful, but deadly.

Was it strange that even in her deadly state, she was still, if not more attractive? She was so much more alluring right now, he couldn't bear to look away from her, or run away for that matter.

Now that the smoke had dissipated, Helga managed to get herself a better look at the human male before her. Judging by his clothing, as well as the FTI logo written on his jumpsuit, she saw now that he was a surviving FTI cleanup worker! What amazed her the most, was the shape of his head. It was oblong, pretty much the shape of an American football. His blonde, somewhat dirty hair stood upward with the unruly ends pointing toward either side, and the little silvery white cap resting between the two parted strands. By the looks of him, he seemed pretty harmless. He was scared, trembling lightly in fear, and he wasn't fighting back, which told her he wasn't trying to turn on her.

Still, it didn't answer her question why he was following her. Her stance became less tense, but stayed defensive in case he decided to turn on her. Then again, he didn't have much on her, that was for sure. She could kill him with her bare hands. With the enhancements of her training, her suit, and strength, she could kill him. If he tried anything, she was ready.

But he didn't do anything. He just stood there, not saying a word. He was...curious. More than anything.

At that moment, their eyes met.

Arnold felt time itself freeze under the stare of her blue, laser-like eyes, and could see the utter existence of pure awe and wonder within those blue depths.

Helga too, saw pure innocence, curiosity, and amazement in those green eyes of his. They were so gentle, too... Like he didn't have a mean bone in his body.

Her instincts to kill were drained, though she remained in a defensive position just in case.

"Is this your pig?" She asked him, her voice calmer and more soft, though still firm and hard.

Unsure of how to respond, and the fact he wondered why she wasn't killing him when she was clearly about to do so just moments ago. Noticing Abner coming up behind Helga, he managed to nod shyly and motion silently for Abner to come, which he did. She then whipped out her holopad, scanning the blue light on him, making him jump in surprise. Whatever she was looking for, he wasn't it. But before he could say anything at all, she hoisted her weapon and walked off without another word.

He waited until she was out of earshot before letting out a soft sigh, a lovesick smile crossing his face.

"She looked at me..." He murmured to himself, though mentally cursing himself for not having said hello or anything at all.

Oh well. It was a start, and she let him live for another day.


	7. La Vie En Rose

**You want to know something funny? The song "La Vie En Rose", featured in this scene of the movie, and the scene title for it, as well as the chapter title here too, duh, was ALSO featured in a Hey Arnold video, trival facts about the episode "Arnold's Valentine". Isn't that just too funny? XD**

**Aaahhh.... I love that episode, because Arnold actually fell in love with Helga, though he didn't know it, since she was Cecile, but the point is, she was showing her true self to him and he fell for her. (Siiiigghhh...) Come ON, Arnold! That's Helga as Cecile, you dolt! (Craig's words, not mine XD)**

**Anyway, enjoy! La Vie En Rose... Translation: The Life In Pink.**

**--**

It was the hour of twilight, with the light of the sunset showing through the windows of the old, abandoned FTI supermarket. All was quiet, save for the sounds of Helga's footsteps as she walked along inside, scanning everything with her her holopad.

Nearby, Arnold watched, entranced by Helga still. Even now, despite after she had tried to kill him, he was evermore drawn to her, and continued to follow her around, cautiously at a distance, like a stray puppy. He just couldn't help himself. Not only was he drawn to her angelic beauty, her grace, the fact she was the first human he'd ever come into contact with for as long as he can remember, her terrifying but alluring deadly anger, but also her display of emotion. He knew she wasn't a heartless soldier. She had a heart, she had feelings, and she had a sense of what she wanted. Arnold refused to see her as anything less than a beautiful woman inside and out. Deep down beneath her rough exterior, was the heart of a young woman with feelings.

He knew, by looking into her eyes earlier. There was so much more to her than what she displayed.

It was all of that which drew him to her.

So he watched, keeping his distance from a nearby upper level of the supermarket, trying to keep quiet.

But Helga knew he was there, and that he'd been following her around. She didn't see him as a threat, but she didn't understand why he was following her like he was. It was a little annoying, since he reminded her of that crew member that often stalked her during her training, always wheezing and breathing on her neck, and always earning a back-punch from her. Still, he kept his distance from her and just seemed to watch her from afar. Still, why?

She just didn't get it.

There was something about that football headed boy, she knew that much.

While studying a pinwheel, she heard him sigh lightly from where he was, and she looked at him. The boy jumped, thinking she was going to shoot him, falling back into some grocery carts behind him. He then ran off down the stairs, away from the carts that now rolled after him, he crashed into the automatic doors, with all the grocery carts falling up against him. He groaned lightly, and then a lone cart lazily rolled up to the rest, knocking against them, and the doors opened, making him fall flat and the carts all piling on him.

Helga watched in amazement as this scene unfolded, almost expecting him to yell "I'm okay!" like this one crew member back on the Axiom she knew did. Shaking her head, Helga walked off to continue her search, muttering to herself.

"Clumsy football head..."

--

Later on, night had descended upon Hillwood city, Helga was still doing the same thing she'd been doing since she arrived, scanning things to find whatever it was she was looking for.

Arnold was sitting atop an old Elementary school, that back in the day was known to be P.S. 118, gazing after her lovingly. She knew he was there, since even after making a fool of himself, he STILL followed after her. As distracting and annoying as it was, she did have to admit it was kind of cute. The football head had guts, that was for sure.

Yawning tiredly, Helga decided to call it a night. She took out her pocket-sized cryotube, hitting a button to activate it. It expanded in size, and opened up for her. Casting one glance over at the football-headed boy, Helga climbed into it and lay down, closing her eyes as she slowly dozed off into a much needed sleep. The pod closed around her, and all went silent.

Arnold waited a few moments, and then climbed down a pile of trash to get down from the roof, only to go sliding down and land on his stomach. He didn't mind, he had faced worse. The blonde boy stood up, shaking himself off, and looked to where Helga's pod was, and cautiously tiptoed over. He knew he had to be careful, in case she's spring on him. He admired her pod, which was pure white, seeming to have no lines or seams, with a translucent black screen along the top, showing a faint image of Helga's sleeping face. Slowly he approached, and flinched, but nothing happened. He moved around, and then waved his hand over the screen. She didn't budge.

For a few moments, he gazed longingly at her, his hands pressed to her pod. He wanted so much to communicate with her, but how? He feared approaching her and trying to introduce himself, after she'd nearly killed him, twice. But he had to do something! He couldn't take this lying down. Not when he had a chance.

Or at least, some of a chance.

Arnold looked around, wondering what he could do, and then, he spotted a little something on the ground in the trash. He picked it up, it was a toilet rim, and next to it was a mop. He picked that up too, studying the items.

"Hmmm....oh, I know!"

Abner lay nearby, watching his master as he was gathering some items from the trash, his tools, and working on something. Eventually, his little eyes closed and he fell asleep, while Arnold worked into the night.

--~~--

It was a new day.

Helga arose from her slumber and came out of her pod, shrinking it to its pocket size, ready to face the day and continue her directive and-

"Huh? What the...?"

She stopped, taking in the sight of something sitting near her she hadn't seen before. It was a strangely made statue, made of pipe cleaners, welding tubes, all spray-painted white, a toilet rim for a head, a mop spray-painted yellow, with an old white sheet tied into a bow sitting on it. Along with that were two blue Christmas balls hanging in the toilet rim, like eyes. She realized it was a silly rendition of herself, though she had no idea why it was here or how it got there.

Helga snorted and stared at it before walking on. "Weird." She said to no one in particular. It didn't matter, she had to get back to her directive.

From where he was, Arnold sighed as his heart sank. Once more, a failed attempt to win her over. Sure his sculpting wasn't the best as his drawing, but at least he tried. Limited materials and time never did go hand-in-hand.

"Damn it." He muttered dejectedly, kicking a row of two-by-ten pipes.

Which of course then rolled out and over on top of him, making him fall to the ground. Once again, he'd also made a fool of himself in front of her.

This was not going well at all.


	8. Courting

**Okay, WALL-E is so CUTE!!!!!! But of course you guys already know that. XD I also especially think it's adorable how he calls EVE by Evah. So cute! I wish I could make Arnold do that. XD But alas, I cannot. Oh well, we can still have fun here, right?**

**So what do you guys think of the role reversal? XD Isn't it fun how Arnold fell in love with Helga at first sight, and then Helga is slowly falling for him but doesn't realize it until much later? Well given how it's supposed to be the other way around, it was hard to place these two in their roles for this story back about a month ago when it was in its planning stages. I almost made Helga the WALL-E of the story, and Arnold would be the EVE. It would have worked somehow, given how they fall in love, but, I would have to modify the story drastically, and, as interesting as that would have been, it just didn't seem right. So, I think they would be more in character if I stuck the traditional route. After all, Arnold is just like WALL-E! That adorable trash bot, his qualities fit Arnold like a glove. And Helga is a perfect EVE.**

**As I said before, as EVE displays more emotion and can be herself, WALL-E falls more and more in love with her. That's the same with how Arnold likes Helga all the more when she displays emotion and is more herself. So, it works better this way, even if I have to make the falling in love bit the exact opposite. **

**Oh well, that's no problem, right? It's an interesting idea. :D**

**And one last thing!**

**You know that big, magnetic crane that EVE got stuck to in the movie? Well, when I first saw WALL-E, for a fleeting moment, though it didn't register to me completely, it reminded me exactly of that magnetic crane from **_**The Brave Little Toaster**_**! That factor especially came into play when I saw a WALL-E fanart piece, where WALL-E was there, avoiding that same magnetic crane from the aforementioned movie! Because the artist felt the same way.**

**Isn't that just hilarious? XD I think somehow the creators of WALL-E were thinking of that. And one of the writers for TBLT also works for Pixar, so, maybe?**

**Anyway, let's move on!**

**--**

_Boop-boop-boop beep_.

Helga sighed heavily as her holopad biological scanner reading once again came out negative. She was used to this result, on every mission, she came out empty-handed, as did her brethren of E.V.E. Scouts. It was times like this that she really hated her job. Any planet, especially here on earth, nothing came up. Not even in what were once the most plant-populated places.

The trash was everywhere. It seemed that life was most if not completely unsustainable here on this forsaken planet. But it still left her to wonder, for even a fleeting moment, how that one football-headed boy who had a strange habit of following her around, and his pig, were able to survive in this harsh, unforgiving environment. Since being here nearly a week, she hadn't seen any other signs of lifeforms, which in turn told her that he was probably alone here.

Was it really THAT bad?

Apparently.

She slammed down the hood of an old pizza pick-up truck and sighed, moving on to the next thing she could scan. A port-a-potty. If any kind of bacteria could form and create photosynthetic substance, it could probably occur in that.

_Boop-boop-boop beep._

Negative.

Helga scowled and slammed the portable toilet stall shut. This was not going well at all. Then again, she knew that from the start.

It was only her second time here on earth, and her first time fulfilling her directive in the very city that Future Tech Industries began and started over 700 years ago. What was once Hillwood, Sector _NA-001_...and ironically, where her ancestors were from, long before humanity left earth on the Axiom. Her first Earth visit had been in a country in Africa. No luck there, and no luck here, either.

The Axiom was where she was born and raised, and though not many people knew it, she had, quite a dysfunctional family back there. Her father was a crewmember, and was running his own little sector on the Axiom, he manufactured and put together various kinds of electronics that the crew members could use for their jobs and to add to helping the passengers. He was a blowhard bully at times, and always disregarded his youngest daughter, that was Helga.

Her mother wasn't so much better. She was an alcoholic most of her life, drinking fine Axiom alcoholic smoothies all the time and being passed out. She was eventually rehabilitated and no longer drank, but she was still pretty absent from her life. Other than when her older sister was around, or when her father needed help with the shop, she was always on the moon.

Helga also had an older sister named Olga. She was twelve years older, and was a stellar worker. She was an Axiom scientist, and a teacher for the young children of the ship. All her life, she had lived in Olga's shadow. Olga constantly graduated the Axiom schooling system at the top of her class, won awards for various contests and achievements, and was probably one of the most beautiful and sweet girls you could ever meet. Their parents were so proud of her, and constantly showered her with love and praise, therefore sometimes ignoring Helga. Olga was, to put it simply, the apple of everyone's eye.

As smart as she was, doing well in her schooling and E.V.E. Training, and now being Second Lieutenant, she just couldn't compete with Olga, no matter how hard she tried. She always known as "Olga's kid sister", rarely ever just Helga. Olga was becoming a legend on the Axiom, in a way.

It was all pretty much why Helga even became an . Scout in the first place. Yes, she did want to contribute to helping humanity and hopefully be able to get them back to earth so they could recolonize and start over with a clean slate, but also, she wanted to prove something to her family and other people. She wanted to come back to the Axiom with living proof that life could be sustained on Earth, and therefore, save humanity. While it would be an amazing accomplishment, and she'd be glad to see the best for people, it would hopefully make her parents proud of her for a change. And maybe even surpass Olga for once.

So overall, her life wasn't the best. Her missions always came out the same way, no matter what planet she explored, and her only lick of freedom were her joy flights. She loved flying, it made her feel free. But no matter where she was, either at home on the Axiom, or on earth, or any other planet, the only thing she had to keep in mind was her directive. On a mission, searching for biological specimens. On the Axiom, training and learning.

No freedom.

It frustrated Helga to no end, but she knew she didn't have much choice in the matter. No matter where she went, she was trapped in routine. She followed her directive, either on a mission or at home, day in and day out. And that was it. She would give anything to have a change in routine.

And the only way to get that would come to be was to acquire a living, biological specimen.

But where to find one?!

Helga cursed as she scanned an FTi remodel of the Apollo Capsule, shutting the door, once again coming out with nothing.

Now later, she scanned through an old FTi cargo hold, coming to see that it also, unsurprisingly, contained no biological specimen. She screamed in frustration and slammed the doors shut, kicking them for good measure.

Just as she was about to move on, call it a day, she suddenly felt a strange force tugging at her, but before she could take it in, she was yanked off her feet and pulled toward something really fast, and was then stuck to a large, magnetic disc that was attached to a cargo crane. Her arms, legs and torso were immobilized by the strong magnetic force.

"What the hell!?" Helga exclaimed, trying to free herself as she tried to make sense of the situation.

She could still move her head, but the rest of her body, was stuck. It dawned on her then, her nanosuit was magnetic. As thin, comfortably smooth, skin-tight, and breathable as it may have been, it did contain metallic properties. Her gloves and boots, made of the same material, were also victims in this.

Unbelievable.

Helga growled under her breath, trying to break free, but with no avail. She even kicked her antigrav boots into gear, trying to gain some leeway and fly off, but of course, the magnetic force of the magnetic crane were far too strong for her. After a few minutes of trying, she eventually grew fed up and lost all patience.

Drawing her plasma rifle, with difficulty, as it was also magnetic, she placed the barrel against the magnetic crane, keeping it low power so as not to blow herself up. She fired a shot, the plasma bolt melting through the metal, releasing her. She kicked her boots into gear to keep from falling, but she wasn't through yet. She shot the magnetic crane again, and then at the ship, which being a fuel tank, instantly caught on fire and let off an explosion. But she didn't stop, she kept firing and firing, until eventually, the bay had become a fiery mess.

The first ship lit on fire then fell over on its side, hitting against the ship beside it, which in turn hit another ship beside the second one. The domino effect.

Helga sighed heavily, lowering herself to the ground and sat down on an old metal girder. Her face no longer pertained murderous rage, it was now blank with hopelessness. That was pretty much how she felt then. Hopeless. Empty. She felt nothing. She sat there, her elbows on her thighs, and her face buried in her hands.

The entire dried up bay, with all the fire going on, lit up like Hiroshima.

--

All the while, Arnold had watched in terror and in awe as he'd seen her murderous rampage, obviously frustrated from her job. Over the past few days, he'd still continued to follow her around as she went about her directive, but was now really hesitant in approaching her after he'd made a fool of himself in front of her, twice. He felt insecure and all the confidence he had just about dropped.

But now, seeing her seem so sad, so bland, uninspired and depressed, it tugged his heartstrings more so than he'd ever felt before. She seemed so lost, so hopeless, so much so that she didn't notice the domino effect she'd created in the ships as they tilted over.

Arnold felt bad for her then. Her job must have been hard and she was obviously coming up with nothing, whatever it was that she was trying to find or do. Because of it all, she lost her grace, her ferocity, everything. She seemed like a sad, empty shell. And he hated to see her like this. He wanted to go over there and comfort her the best way he could. He wanted to make her feel better.

But how?

Approaching her didn't seem like such a good idea, it would probably disturb her, given how she was feeling right now, and he feared he'd only worsen her mood and she'd kill him on the spot.

It began to rain then, starting in a light drizzle, then it picked up a lot. Normally, Arnold would retreat in this rain, and he was sure she would too, but, she didn't budge. She still sat there, unmoving, completely unaffected, like it wasn't even raining. She probably didn't even notice.

As he watched her, sadly, an idea came to him then.

--

Some time passed, it continued to rain, and Helga sat there, getting wet from the rain, but she didn't care in the least. The entire weight of everything, her life, her family, her job, all of this, was just getting to her. She cursed everything and her job, this was just not what she planned. It made her wonder why she, or even anyone else, bothered with this. It had been 700 years since humanity left and all of this started.

So now what?

She didn't care.

She wanted to shut out everything, all of reality, right now. Hell, she would quit if she could, escape life on the Axiom, escape her directive, and just be free. That idea sounded very appealing right now.

Just then, her sonic hearing detected the sound of soft, careful footsteps now approaching her. She knew now, that it was the football-headed garbage boy who had kept following her around. Given her mood, she wanted to blast the weirdo dweeb on the spot, but right now, she didn't have the strength to do so. Especially now that she thought about him. He always had a strange way of popping into her mind, and surprising her none the less.

She heard him sit down on the metal girder beside her, a few feet away. He inched closer and closer to her, seeming very nervous, clutching something in his hand, and whistling out of tune for no reason.

Helga by now was not sure what to make of the football-headed boy by now. There was something very different about him, the way he followed her around like a lost puppy, and how he crossed his mind more than she'd expected him to. She had tried to kill him on the spot, only to find great surprise in his actions, and his eyes. She remembered those eyes all too well. Those gentle, soft, harmless green eyes that looked at her with utmost curiosity and pure innocence. Strange as it sounded, she just couldn't get those eyes, or him, out of her mind. And she didn't even know his name. Yet, he was there in her mind, more than she cared to admit.

She too, was also wondering how he had managed to survive on this planet. He was young, her age it seemed, so he definitely had a lot of experience under his belt and seemed to know his way around and how to go about things. It puzzled her, since most . Scouts who had been exploring the planet, and even here, in Sector _NA-001_, had not found a single survivor. And yet here he was, a simple garbage boy who seemed to go about things on a day here like it was nothing. Maybe, just maybe, he could answer some questions for her, about how he lived here on earth, if it was even sustainable, or better yet, maybe he knew where she could find a living biological specimen. If he could live here that long, then maybe...just maybe, there was hope after all. Maybe she could help save humanity like she had planned.

Maybe he was a blessing in disguise.

Her inquisitive mind of him was snapping her out of her gloomy state, as a new shred of hope came within her. And it was clear he wanted to talk to her, since he now sat no more than a few feet away from her.

And then the rain stopped hitting her. But how? It was still raining. The fires were still raging, though the rain was slowly putting it all out. She looked up then, and saw that he was holding a basic umbrella over them. She snapped out of her trance, seeing now that he was sharing his umbrella with her. Helga was pretty surprised he was doing that, considering all she had done to him before. It was...

...sweet.

A strange feeling coursed over her then, unable to fathom the generosity he was showing to her, sharing his umbrella with her. Sure, she was treated with respect and was politely received back home, but, this kind gesture seemed so much more than that.

No one had ever shown her kindness like this before.

All of a sudden, he spoke.

"....Nice bow." He finally said, looking down at his boots.

Helga blinked, unsure of how to respond to that. "...Huh?"

The boy jumped a little, seemingly more nervous, but he was trying to stay calm.

"I-I like your bow...because it's white...like your suit."

She was baffled for a moment, but otherwise, quite amused at how nervous and jittery he was around her.

"Um....thank you."

--

Arnold just about fell over, surprised by her response to his innocent compliment. He hadn't been sure of what else to say to her, so at the last minute, he had at the moment looked at her silvery white bow on her head, which matched her suit. He had thought it was interesting how she wore a bow on her head like that, as if she were a young little girl. He liked it, it was cute. It contrasted nicely with her blonde hair.

Now what?

Silence had befallen them, and he was unsure of what to say next to the beautiful woman who now seemed a little less sad and hopeless, which was a good sign. He felt nervous, weird, jittery, he had butterflies in his stomach, but it all felt good in a way. It was a good feeling. And yet, he was unsure of how to go about it by now.

"So what's your story?" The woman finally said, looking at him again.

"Ah!" Arnold jumped, and nearly slipped off the girder, surprised at her sudden question. She was talking to him! Talking to him! His heart raced with anticipation and adrenaline then, his nervousness rising.

The blonde woman regarded him with amusement. "Wow, you're pretty jittery, aren't you? So, what's your directive?" Her voice was calm and soothing, actually very friendly.

Still nervous, he tried to respond to her.

"Umm.... Huh?" Was all he could say, blushing like crazy.

She smiled a little. "Wow, you sure are pretty dense. You know, your directive. You're a garbage collector, right?"

"O-Oh!" Arnold realized, and gave a quick nod. "Uh, y-yeah...I-I am." He said, sounding a little less nervous.

He noticed a pile of trash nearby, and got an idea to impress her. He grabbed his shovel, and scooped the trash into a nearby trash compactor, which painfully grinded the trash, and then spat out the cube.

Which fell apart.

Arnold gave a sheepish smile, and gestured to the fallen trash cube. "Uh...ta-da!"

"Oh..." She said, looking unimpressed but amused at the same time. She was trying to be nice, though not sure how to express it properly.

"Um..." Arnold sat back beside her. "So...what's your...um...direc...tive?"

"My directive?" Helga pointed at herself, and he nodded. "That's classified." She said coldly, turning away.

"...Oh, right." Arnold heaved sadly, feeling stupid for having asked such a thing. He should have known.

Another uncomfortable silence befell them for a couple of moments.

Helga looked at him at the corner of her eye, seeing that he now looked miserable. Maybe she was too harsh? Nah, she had a reason to be, her directive WAS of course classified information.

Still, maybe she could've been a bit nicer.

Oh well.

She decided to change the subject. Strange as it sounded, she didn't like seeing him upset.

"So then, football head, you have a name?"

"Huh?" Arnold looked at her, confused. Especially by the strange name she had just called him. Football head. "...My name?"

"Yes." Helga said patiently, looking at him for an answer.

"Uh...oh..." Arnold realized he never gave his full name to anyone. He knew it, and it was barely readable on his outfit, but he hadn't said it in forever. Oh well, how hard could it be?

"A-Arnold. My name's Arnold."

"Arnold?" Helga repeated.

"Y-Yeah..."

"Arnold... I like it. That's a nice name."

Arnold melted, hearing her say his name so perfectly in her harmonious voice brought such a warm feeling to his heart. He looked at her lovingly with a half-lidded smile.

"My name's Helga. Helga G. Pataki." Helga said, pointing at her name patched on her arm. A single gold bar that signified rank as 2nd Lieutenant with a green plant patch, much like the one on her chest, with _FTi_ _Navy- Axiom E.V.E_ embedded on it, along with her name, Helga. As well as the FTi logo written beneath it.

Helga. That was such an interesting but beautiful name. It sounded very strong, but feminine at the same time. He liked it already.

"H-Heeelllgaaa...." Arnold pronounced slowly, and Helga giggled. "Right. N-Nice to meet you, Helga."

"Likewise, football head." Helga gave a little smirk.

"H-Huh?!" Arnold reacted with surprise, looking at her. "Football head?"

She giggled again, amused by his reaction. "Doi, you have a football-shaped head! Or if we're gonna get technical, oblong. I think it's befitting. And frankly, it's cute."

"O-Oh..." Arnold blushed a bit, unsure of what to think of that nickname. It was... kind of cute, especially how she said it was cute. "Okay." He twiddled his gloved fingers nervously.

Helga giggled some more. He was so adorable! His innocence and childlike curiosity just added to his interesting charm. She liked this boy, he wasn't so bad at all. Just as she expected. She looked at him and smiled, feeling a lot more curious about him than before.

Seeing this, Arnold felt his heart skip a beat, entranced by her smile. He felt more drawn to her, most especially now that he was up close with her and on a more friendly term. It was his first real interaction with a human known from memory.

Before he had time to drink this in any further, the winds around them picked up, and the rainfall became a deluge, blowing violently in their direction from behind Helga. With the heavy rainfall and heavy winds, it was now a dried up hurricane.

"Helga!" Arnold realized, panic rushing through him. "Come on, we have to go!" He reached out to grab her.

"Whoa! Don't touch me!" Helga yelled, drawing her plasma rifle, and about to back away when it suddenly dawned on her what was happening.

The wind and rain picked up harder, blowing dust and sand and dirt, and with the darkness settling in, especially how the flames from the fire earlier were extinguished, it was now just impossible to see properly. She brought her HUD visor goggle down over her eyes, but even they weren't enough to protect her.

Disoriented and scared, seeing as she had no source of proper shelter, as well as obscured vision and finding it difficult not to get blown over. She realized Arnold, who was the only one close who knew how to survive, was gone.

"ARNOOOOOLLLLLDDD!!!!!! ARNOLD WHERE ARE YOU!?" Helga screamed among the natural disaster, but no response.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed at her wrist, holding on for dear life. She couldn't see him, but she knew he was there. She felt safer now.

"HELGA! FOLLOW ME AND DON'T LET GO!" His voice yelled above the roar of the storm, she could see his silhouette appearing.

He put on his UVA/UVB protection goggles and led her through the storm to get to the one place he knew they'd be safe.


	9. Arnold's Favorite Things

**Ah yes, we all love this part of the movie! :D WALL-E showing EVE all of his things, and the dancing. XD Oh GOD that's hilarious! WALL-E is all cute and humming it, using the trash can lid as a hat, and then EVE is all BAM BAM BAM! XD They're so cute.**

**So here we go! OwO**

**--**

The silence of the old boarding house's interior was then shattered when the large door was opened, with some water and wind blowing in from the mad hurricane outside. Two soaking wet figures came inside, one of them shutting the door behind them.

Helga coughed, wiping her eyes as she lifted her HUD visor goggle onto her head, trying to get rid of the water and dust that had gotten all over. She sneezed.

"Are you all right?" Arnold asked in concern, lifting his goggles up on his head.

"Yeah...yes, I'm fine." Helga said, nodding her head. She looked around the rough and tough interior, and then up at the stairs. "...Where are we?"

"Come on upstairs. This is my home." Arnold said, leading the way up the stairs.

Puzzled, Helga followed up after him, and came up into his room. She watched as he took off his gloves, and then took a remote, turning on all kinds of lights and Christmas lights of every colour. She looked around in amazement at his room, taking in all the sights. Shelves upon shelves of all kinds of items, his bed wedged into the wall next to another shelf, the skylight windows above his bed, the mat where Abner was laying on. His room was definitely something!

"This is....your living quarters?" She asked, still awestruck.

"Yes it is." Arnold smiled and made a welcoming pose. "It's my home."

"Wow..." Helga uttered, looking around some more in awe. She was amazed at seeing so many things, so many items of all kinds. It was nothing compared to her luxurious lifestyle on the Axiom. "Um, so...where'd you get all this stuff?"

"I found it all in the garbage, so I collected it." Arnold explained, gesturing to his shelves.

"Incredible." Helga said honestly. It was as if she were seeing the entire world all in one place. "You really outdid yourself here, football head."

She walked around the room, taking it in some more, but then jumped at what appeared to be a plastic singing fish on the wall near his rotating shelves.

"WHOA!" Helga yelled and drew her plasma rifle, pointing it at the singing fish.

"Helga!" Arnold immediately rushed to her side, gently grabbing her arm. He didn't want any of his treasures destroyed. "It's okay, it's just a plastic singing fish, it won't hurt you." She wasn't listening, but he persisted. "Helga, Helga, don't shoot it, please."

"...Creepy." Helga muttered, and holstered her gun, shaking her head and looking at the fish with unease.

Relieved, he grinned and gently pulled her away from it, looking really giddy and excited.

"C'mon, there's so much I want to show you!" He rifled through the racks with the remote, and then pulled something out, holding it to her. It was an eggbeater.

"Ooh..." Helga took it, and he went to search for more things to share. She twisted the knob curiously, amused by the beaters spinning around. Very curious, she twisted the knob faster and faster and faster, until the beaters flew off. She gasped in surprise, realizing what she'd done. Nervous, she placed it aside and acted like nothing had happened.

Arnold came back with a small sheet of bubble wrap. "Look at this!" He popped a bubble. "It pops. Here, you pop."

"Okay." Helga looked at it with interest, it looked so fun and addicting. She took it and popped one of the bubbles. "Ooh!" She giggled, and then popped all of the bubbles as fast as she could. It WAS fun and very addicting.

He handed her a light bulb, which she took, and it immediately lit up when she touched it.

"Huh?" Arnold took it back, tapping it as if it were broken, and then he handed it back to her. Sure enough, it lit up again. "Wow...how did you do that?"

"I don't know." Helga answered honestly, staring at the light bulb with awe. It must had been her suit's nanocurcuitry, which could apparently transfer energy to electrical things she touched. "Huh, weird."

Arnold shrugged it off and then handed her the unsolved Rubik's Cube, which she took with utmost curiosity. He thought a moment, and got an idea of what to show her next.

"Oh, I know!" He said, and went to the toaster, taking his tape of _Hello Dolly!_

He went back to her, and came to see that she had solved the Rubick's Cube, in a matter of seconds! Surprised, he took it from her and examined it, all the while unconsciously handing her the tape.

"Wow, impressive." Arnold murmured in amazement. "I had no idea it was that easy."

"Uh-oh." Helga suddenly said, holding the contents of the film from the tape. She'd never seen an old-fashioned video tape before, and had unspooled its contents.

"Oh no! My tape!" Arnold panicked, grabbing it back from her and wondering how to fix it.

"Oh...oh! I'm sorry!" Helga tried to apologize. Knowing she did something wrong made her feel vulnerable and often she wouldn't apologize verbally, but this was just one of those times she knew she had to express it.

"It's okay, it's okay, I think I can fix it..." Arnold shuffled through his little tool bag strapped to his utility belt, and produced a small, flathead power tool, which he used to rewind the tape and spool the film back into it.

Good as new, but still worried, Arnold whipped over to the VCR and inserted the tape, hoping against all hope that it would work. The static worried him, but after a few jumpy moments, the screen played clear and the sound was loud...or at least, the way it always had been before. The actors were singing and dancing to _Put On Your Sunday Clothes_, just like before. Helga moved up beside him, relieved that the problem she'd caused was solved, and was quite intrigued by what was playing on the screen.

"What do you think?" Arnold asked her, glancing at her.

"That's pretty boss." Helga remarked. "It's fascinating...." She recorded the footage with her micro camcorder, which was mounted in her earpiece. "Wow."

The football-headed garbage collector beamed, glad she found it just as cool as he did. He watched her for a moment as she watched the movie like a scientist examining a specimen. Getting an idea, he then went back over to his shelves, looking for the trash can lid he'd found the other day. He found it where he'd put it, and waved back to Helga.

"Helga, watch this."

"Hmm?" Helga turned around, and was greeted with an adorable sight.

Arnold danced a little to the tune, using the trash can lid as a hat, and hummed along with it, dancing poorly but charismatically. Helga giggled, amused by the sight. He was so cute!

"Here, you try." Arnold smiled, gesturing her.

"Me?" Helga pointed at herself, baffled. "Um...okay." She had never danced before, so it was going to be tricky.

Still, she decided to put her martial arts skills, as well as her enhanced abilities, to create coordinated movement and attempted to dance. Unfortunately, she put too much strength and speed into it, that the floor shook and his shelves rattled.

"AH! Okay okay, stop stop stop!" Arnold cried, and gently grabbed her arms. "That's a bit too rough."

"Oh, sorry." Helga said, embarrassed. "I uh...get carried away sometimes." She admitted. Still, a warm flutter came to her heart where he was touching her, though she didn't quite know why.

"It's okay, Helga." Arnold smiled and let go of her. "Here, try this move instead."

She watched as he spun around in a twirling motion dance move. It did make him a bit dizzy, but he stayed standing as he stumbled a bit. She giggled again.

"Okay, football head." Helga said, and imitated his last move, her arms spread out and spinning like a helicopter.

"Whoa whoa, no no no, stop stop stop stop STO-AAH!"

"Huh?!" Helga stopped spinning gracefully, not even the least bit dizzy. She just realized she had hit him in the face by accident, and now he was gone! Where did he go? "...Arnold? Arnold?"

Arnold had been hit by her, and was sent flying into the wall nearby, which thankfully didn't break too badly. It was painful and he felt as if he'd been struck by a car, but he was fine. He was all right, but his goggles were shattered.

"Arnold!" Helga rushed over to him, concerned. "A-Are you okay? I'm sorry! I didn't mean to..."

"No no, I'm all right." Arnold assured her, sporting a black eye. He stood up, and took off his goggles. "I think my goggles took most of the force."

"Oh...I can fix them for you."

"It's okay, I have spares."

Arnold tossed the old pair aside, and went back over to his shelves, Helga following him close behind. He took his remote and rotated the shelves, coming to find a few shelves containing personal items he might need. Extra goggles, gloves, batteries, all that jazz. He took an extra pair of goggles and put them on.

"See? Problem solved." He smiled at her.

"Oh, good." Helga sighed in relief.

Arnold's heart skipped a beat as his cheeks grew hot, seeing that Helga was genuinely concerned. Over the past while, she'd been showing more and more emotion freely, and he found himself drawn to her even more.

Helga's eyes scanned his shelves, and then she came across something new. It was the shelf with the little box containing his lighter collection. She took one out of the box and studied it curiously. It was a stainless steel Zippo lighter, with the FTi logo on one side. Strange, wasn't it supposed to be used for something? She couldn't quite place it.

"I have no idea what that is." Arnold said, coming up beside her. "But they're really interesting, so I collected a few of them to try to figure out what they are or how they work."

"Huh. No kidding." Helga said, looking it over again.

She then opened the top on one side, and clicked the button. A little flame emitted, which meant it still worked. They both stared at the little flame, captivated.

"Oooh..." Helga murmured.

"Whoa." Arnold emitted, but was now looking at her instead of the flame.

Oblivious to their intimate position, and being so close together, Helga continued to stare at the flame, not quite aware of Arnold's staring. He watched her carefully, seeing the soft glow of the flame, and the lights, and Christmas lights off her soft face. Her big blue eyes radiated such wonder and amazement, and seemed so much more beautiful than before, if that was possible. She looked so beautiful then, it almost hurt to look. His infatuation was growing more and more, and he felt as if he were looking up at a bright, starry sky. Could this have been a sign? An answer to his prayers?

In the background, he could hear _It Only Takes A Moment_ playing, and as he was captivated by her image, and heard the soothing, beautiful song, understanding the lyrics more so than before. As Arnold took in her beautiful image, and the sounds of the song, he felt moved to express his love.

His eyes wandered downward, coming to see her white, gloved hand as it dangled at her side carelessly. Arnold gave a silent gulp, and though worried about her reaction, either rejection or being shot at, there was no turning back now. He had to do it, he had to try.

Arnold's hand reached out shakily toward hers, trembling. Helga then turned her head to look at him, wondering why he was reaching for her hand and seeming nervous.

"What are you doing?" She questioned him.

"Huh!?" Arnold withdrew his hand by reflex and fear as if he'd been shot. "Oh, uh, nothing. Nothing at all. I wasn't doing anything." He choked.

Helga raised one side of her unibrow, suspicious and curious. "Um...ooooo-kay then. Right. Whatever you say, Arnold." Her eyes casted to the TV screen. "Oooh!" She was drawn to the image, and went back over it, curiously watching.

Kicking himself mentally, Arnold now stood there, wondering what he could do next to reel her to him. He felt stupid for having tried to hold her hand just now. Maybe it was too soon? He wasn't sure. Disappointment and contempt, directed at himself, coursed through him, and he had to think of a way to break the ice again. Or rather, melt it further.

She did seem interested and fascinated by the things he'd shown her, but what else was there? He had pretty much shown her the entire world in a matter of minutes. He needed something lively.

"Wait...that's it!" Arnold said to himself quietly as realization struck him like a bolt of lightning. The plant! He could show her the plant! "Helga, I have something I want to show you!"

"What's that?" Helga asked, her attention drawn from the TV.

"Hold on, I'll get it." Arnold took his remote again, rotating the shelves as he searched for the plant. A toy drum fell onto his head, making him yelp in surprise and rub his head. He continued to search frantically, looking worried.

Helga giggled as she watched him goofily search his room and shelves. He was so adorable, and pretty funny. There was something about Arnold that drew her to him, and she was indeed very curious about him. It wasn't just the strange football shape of his head, though she found that pretty interesting and unique. Despite her unawareness of what she felt, she couldn't quite deny that she was quite attracted to him. It was odd, considering their ranks and status pushed them so far apart. He was a simple FTi custodian worker, and she was an FTi interstellar vegetation scout and second Lieutenant. Was it possible that two people like them, very different from one another, could actually establish some kind of a genuine, social connection?

Earlier on, he had shown her kindness. True, genuine, helpful kindness, by holding the umbrella over her head, and even cheering her up from her sour mood. And then risking it all to help her from the raging storm still going on outside. All from the goodness of his heart. She had tried to kill him twice, and he didn't once turn his back on her, especially when she needed help. In fact, he just seemed not to care about any of that, and still even now seemed to look at her like she was the best thing in the world.

Helga looked at the flame of the lighter again, thinking of all of this. What did Arnold seem to see in her? Why was he so....nice? Nice to the likes of her? She knew pretty well that she was an attractive young woman, and had caught the eyes of other men as she grew older, and it may have been the sparks of it, but it seemed to be a lot more than that. Most people who came into contact with her merely tolerated her presence and mind rather than enjoyed it, since most of her social contact was pure business alone. Looking at the flame, it reminded her of something beautiful. Something she longed for.

Love.

Though her parents did what they could to raise her, and her sister, the love she felt just didn't seem to be there. It was as if they merely cared for her and nothing more, since she was their child. But love? Her only friend on the Axiom was another scientist and mathematical evaluator named Phoebe. They did genuinely care for each other and helped one another out with different things. A friendly acquaintance was Phoebe's lover, named Gerald. He was a fitness instructor for the naval officers of the Axiom, and a sports expert, since he pretty much ran the sports sectors of the place. She liked them both enough, but often felt like a third wheel, since the two loved each other so much.

The kindness Arnold had shown her, was, in her mind, true, genuine, sweet kindness she'd never seen before. Not outside of her two friends. There had to be more to it all than their social ranks and statuses. Attraction was evident between them. Could they build on that, and establish a connection?

_Maybe he sees me in a way that no one else does...he's not just helping me because of who I am, I can tell._

Arnold then tapped her shoulder, interrupting her train of thought. She turned around and found him standing before her, holding an old, weathered boot.

"Look Helga, I found a plant in the garbage the other day, and it's still alive. Amazing, isn't it?" Arnold said.

That was when she noticed that the boot was housing a little plant! A real, living, photosynthesizing plant! She could see what it was, it was an Ailanthus altissima sprout, a tree!

"Oh! Arnold...this is..."

Helga whipped out her holopad, scanning the plant. Surprisingly, it came out positive. Positive! It was a living, biological plant that was fully functioning! She did it! She had found what she was looking for!

But before she could even form the words to thank him, something very strange happened.

Her entire form went still, her eyes wide, and her neural implants seeming to take over her mind as she could not think straight any longer. Her hands reached out and snatched the plant away, storing it into a biospecimen container that was strapped to her belt.

_What's going on!?!_ Arnold thought in panic, wondering why she was acting like this and if he had done something wrong.

Then she took out her downsized pod, expanding it with the push of a button. As it encased her, a strange powder was breathed into her nostrils and her eyes closed. The pod encased her completely, sealing her inside, and then it fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

The room was dark, and a green, pulsating light came from the pod. It was the same little plant symbol that was on her suit.

Once it all seemed to blow over, through the process was fairly quiet, Arnold gingerly approached the pod.

"...Helga? Helga?" Arnold murmured, and tapped her pod.

No response. He could only see her face through it, and she looked clinically dead.

Arnold tapped it again, and leaned his ear against it, as if trying to sense any movement or activity going on within it. Nope, nothing. Just the pulsating green light.

"Helga?!" He shook the pod frantically to try to wake her. But nothing worked. "Helga!? HELGA!"

Throughout the night, his cries for her echoed along his room and were silenced by the raging storm outside, as he tried all through the night to try to wake her up and get a response out of her.

But nothing came.


	10. Bad Date

**Hey y'all. I just wanted to first say I'm sorry this one is taking longer than I had anticipated. DX So sorry. But don't worry, if it takes me a YEAR (which I hope won't come to that), I will see this story through to the end. I promise. :)**

**--**

The next day rolled in, with the sun shining bright and hot upon the desolate remains of the city. Before collapsing with exhaustion, Arnold had tried all he could to wake Helga up, but with no success. She remained in some kind of comatose state in her pod, completely unaware and unresponsive to the world outside. It turned out that she was in a deep, comatose sleep thanks to a newly developed anesthesia that the scientists on the Axiom had perfected.

There was no way to wake someone up from that state, unless it either wore off on its own, which in itself would take weeks, with time added on if given an extra dose, or, if the antidote was injected into the subject in liquid or inhaling form.

Of course, not knowing this, Arnold was heartbroken at the loss of contact with the woman he had fallen in love with. Even if he knew, it wouldn't have done a lick of good anyway.

Now they were on the roof of the Sunset Arms, where Arnold had managed to roll and push her pod onto, by using a pile of garbage as a makeshift ramp, which he had put together years ago in case of anything. He'd brought her outside, thinking maybe the sun's solar power could somehow affect the pod and wake her up. But nothing came. Just the brightly lit green, plant-shaped light.

Still, he sat there, on the hottest day of the year, all day, barely even moving from where he sat. Not one sign of life or movement came from Helga at all. His heart was slowly breaking with each second as despair ate at his gut.

He sat there, and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.

And waited some more.

As the afternoon sun began to drift, there was still nothing.

--

That very night, another rainstorm came. It wasn't a hurricane like last night, but it was still a heavy downpour, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Quickly, Arnold had descended into his room, made sure to feed Abner, which he surprisingly remembered, and brought out the umbrella back out onto the roof. It was the same one he'd used to cover her from the rain the night before. He had to protect her pod, to protect her, and didn't want anything to happen to her.

So he now sat there on the roof holding the umbrella over her pod, shielding her from the rain. Every now and then, lightning would strike some ways away from where he sat, making him jump in fright. Once more, he barely dodged being struck by lightning, but he didn't care. He couldn't let Helga or her pod to be struck by lightning, so he stuck to his guns and braved it. As long as she was safe, that was all that mattered to him.

Every now and then he looked longingly at her pod, hoping with all the optimism and hope he had, though it was slowly slipping away, hoping to spot signs of activity. But nothing came. She remained still and asleep.

Arnold sighed, knowing that this was going to be a very long night.

--

Days had passed, and he just about lost track of what day it was or how long it had been, for that matter. All that he cared about was keeping Helga safe, so much so that he just about neglected himself. His nights were either restless or little to no sleep at all, because his worry for her was eating at his gut so much so that he rarely if ever let her pod out of his sight.

On one day, the night was closing in, and it was quite cold. Arnold took his blanket from his bed and placed it around the pod in an attempt to keep her warm. Even though she was pretty much unaffected by the weather outside.

At least, not until a monstrous sandstorm struck the next day. It started in the morning, and lasted well into the afternoon before it died down, leaving sand and dust in its wake. Helga's pod wouldn't have done so well out there in the middle of the storm, and since getting her down into his room was impossible because of the size of the pod being bigger than the skylight windows, and also the fear of wrecking her or the pod in pushing it down the makeshift garbage ramp. So, he did the next best thing to protect her from the storm. He placed his blanket over the pod, and then a large, empty metal oil barrel, while he himself hid under his sheets from his bed.

When it was over, he uncovered himself, wiping off the sand before he removed the barrel from around her pod and blanket. She was safe, as was her pod, much to his relief.

--

A few more days went by, and this time, he went with another alternative.

Using a crowbar, Arnold pried open the little compartment door that hid the controls and keypad of her pod. It had taken some time to find it, since the pod was seamless and appeared to be a pure white capsule dome. Near the pulsating beacon, there were lines that could be seen, indicating an opening.

With a car battery, and some jumper cables, Arnold hooked them up, tapping the other ends of the cables together to make sure it worked. The sparks emitting between both cables indicated they did. With this, he was going to deactivate her pod. It seemed like a good idea when he thought of it, and yet, now that he really sat to think about it, he began to wonder the various scenarios. What would he say to her? What would she say? What would happen, above all? Was it even a good idea?

The idea of her simply being awake again was enough to motivate him to try. Whatever would happen, he would ease her into it if he had to. Helga had a fiery temper for sure, but she was a big softie, maybe she would show it more if he was able to explain himself.

"Here goes..." Arnold said to himself, taking a breath.

He reached the cables over and touched them to the inner controls of her pod and-

_ZAP!_

"WHOA!"

Arnold sat up in a daze, looking around in absolute confusion. For starters, he was on the ground a few yards away, and smelled like smoke, his hair sticking up more than it had been before. What had just happened?!

Her pod had a defense mechanism that must have prevented someone on the outside that didn't have proper authorization access from messing with the pod. As Arnold realized this, he was sullen all over again and was back at square one.

"Let's not do that again..." He said to himself, sighing glumly.

--

The next day, as the afternoon drew closer to the hour of twilight, Arnold now felt he was out of good options of freeing Helga from her slumber. But with one little attempt here to brighten the mood, and make her feel special, despite that she couldn't see nor feel it, he tried a different approach.

Something that humans long ago had called a date. He saw the interactions of the special little outing between the man and the woman, the things they would do together all out of that beautiful feeling, love. It inspired him, and now he wanted to do the same with her, despite that it was likely pointless.

Still, that didn't stop him. He wandered the streets of what was once Hillwood City, pulling Helga's pod, standing vertical, in an ancient red wagon. Her pod was wrapped in a small bundle of Christmas lights, all alit, but with no power source. Arnold was determined, conscious Helga or not, to show her a good time and to express his love for her.

First a walk around the desolate sector, and then a little boat ride on an old canoe in the sludgy, muck river, where her pod lay at one end with an umbrella, and he used an old parking sign as an oar.

After that, a little one-sided picnic on his rooftop that Abner joined into. He tried talking to her, but found it no fun when he didn't get a response. Not one. Still, at least he was keeping her company and above all, safe.

Later on, the hour of twilight had set in, with the sun setting in the distance beyond the old, dried up wasteland that was once the water. Arnold sat with Helga's pod next to him on a bench by the old pier. Using his laser, he embedded _**Arnold + Helga**_ onto a trashcan next to the bench. Before them, the beautiful sight of the setting sun was upon them, and he couldn't believe just how much more beautiful it seemed, as if he were seeing it for the first time. He'd seen sunsets before, and had attributed them as pretty, and the sign of the end of a work day.

But now, with the new light in his life, he saw it much differently. The sunset bathed them in such an intimate light, through the smog and the polluted clouds it shone through, radiating its pure beauty. It pretty much was the only thing close to worthy enough to frame the striking beauty that was Helga, and boy did it ever. If she were out here with him, live and functioning, she would have looked absolutely beautiful in the light of the sunset.

Arnold looked forlornly at her pod, placing one gloved hand on the side of it, where her hand might have been, and gave a sigh. He looked at her through the small crevice at her face then, his green eyes brimming with tears. He wanted so much for her to be out here, to be able to hold her close, let her know he loved her, and never let her go.

A tear ran down his cheek.

"I love you, Helga... I love you." He said breathlessly.

--

Night fell in, and now, in the safety of his room, Arnold was now playing a one-sided game of Pong on an ancient video game player that was miraculously still working. Though Helga was frozen, he placed a controller in front of her anyway, as if to pretend she was there anyway, just watching the action while he played.

The score was, Arnold-8000, Helga-0.

Try as he may have, nothing was working. Everything he did didn't get a thing out of her. Whatever had happened to her, she was practically gone. Not once stir came out of her, no sign of life. It was as if she were dead. Nothing but the glow and hum of her beacon came from her pod.

Arnold was always the kind to be optimistic and hopeful, but whatever he had left had been rapidly draining away like never before. He did everything he could to try to wake her somehow, but nothing went through. Nothing. All of his attempts had failed with the same result.

One big nothing.

Despite the peaceful, calm, and quiet rarity that was occurring outside, a quiet evening with no such disaster falling in, Arnold felt as if it were the worst night of his life, and cried himself to sleep very silently.

--

The next day came, and with nothing else he could do, he decided to just go about his directive. At least until something would come out and bring Helga out of her pod and sleeping state.

Of course, this was easier said than done. As Arnold left her there on his roof, and he departed for work, he was in pure gloom, no spirit left in him at all. This entire thing just left him feeling bland, uninspired, and depressed. Neglecting himself in sleep and in nourishment, but he didn't care. Her safety was vital above his own.

He didn't blame her for this, he could never hold it against her. Whatever came between them was neither of their faults, it just happened for some unexpected reason that he couldn't explain. Still, why? Why did this have to happen, right when their bond was growing to be better than it was before?

Arnold just sighed, casting one more glance at her pod before miserably walking off to fulfill another lonely day of his directive, his dulled green eyes soaked with his tears.


	11. Time To Go

**Hello all. I'm so sorry that this fic is taking a lot longer than I'd planned. But like I said before, I WILL finish it. I'm just so distracted sometimes and all, you know? So here we go.**

**This was a pretty sad part in the movie, when they're taking EVE away and WALL-E is all despaired and chasing after the ship! Poor bot. **

**So here we go!**

**--**

Arnold's movements were a lot slower than usual today. He just didn't have it in him like he used to. Any spirit and energy within him seemed to have just sucked right out of him. Normally he could make quite a few trash cubes in a minute, but this time, after about ten minutes of lazy scooping, he finally made his first cube.

But it just didn't seem to work. He'd never felt so depressed, so lonely, so hopeless before all this. Minutes seemed like hours now, as if time itself was slowing down.

He reached into his pocket and produced a Zippo lighter, turning it on the same way Helga had done the first time. Arnold stared into the tiny flame, reminiscing the events of actually being able to connect and talk with a human for the first time in what seemed like forever. And a lovely woman no less. Even at first, when she was trying to kill him, they were still good memories. Then there was that evening, the first time he had talked to her up close, and had brought her into his home, having had time to connect with her some more.

Not once could he go a day without thinking of her beautiful blue eyes, those hypnotic orbs that sent shivers up and down his spine. Her smile, her laughter, her more playful nature.

She was gone now, seemingly lifeless and unresponsive. After being with her like he had, he felt more lonely than he'd ever been in his entire life.

He began to wonder if she would EVER wake up.

Arnold sighed again, feeling fresh tears pool in his eyes.

Before he could mope any further, he was alerted by a sudden tremor in the ground, making him jump in shock. Abner grunted and oinked, alerted as well. Arnold looked around to try to find the source, as a strong wind broke out, blowing out the flame in the lighter. Something wasn't right. Earthquakes didn't cause strong winds like this. It wasn't a sandstorm, or a hurricane, and it wasn't a tornado, either.

"Oink!" Abner said, now looking up at the sky.

Arnold followed his pet's gaze, seeing light coming from the sky now. It was going in the direction of the Sunset Arms, his home. As it came clearer, he could now see the flames of rocket engines. His eyes widened, and horror struck him as he realized now what this meant.

It was the ship from before. Helga's ship. It had returned.

And it was going to take her away.

"NO!" Arnold yelled, standing up.

Before he knew it, he was running.

--

Arnold had never run so fast in his entire life. Even faster than when he'd had to avoid falling trash towers, floods, high winds, or other emergencies. No. He ran fast because _she_ was in trouble. The very reason for his existence now. Helga, the woman he loved. He ran and ran through the maze of trash dunes, with Abner at his heels, struggling to keep up.

Right then, his worst fears were confirmed. The ship from before landed on the rooftop of the house next to the old boarding house. The rocket's side opened up to reveal a cargo hold, and was now facing Helga, with her still out there in her pod.

"HELGA!"

A robotic arm retracted from the ship, making its way toward Helga's pod. No doubt, she was going to be taken away.

"NO! HELGA!" Arnold cried, fear and despair eating at his gut, almost out of breath as he ran.

He wasn't about to sit back and lose her forever. Not after what happened, not after what they'd been through. It had been brief, but there was a connection between them, a bond. And he wasn't about to let it slip away forever. He wasn't about to spend the rest of his time here alone, not without her. Not without knowing she was safe and happy. Not without seeing her again.

Arnold realized then what he had to do. The ship wasn't leaving Helga behind. And he knew he couldn't convince whoever was behind all this otherwise. But he wasn't going to go down without a fight.

He had to get on board.

Abner caught up to him then, stopping him in his tracks. He realized that he couldn't let him go to who-knows-where, he had to make sure he stayed safe.

"Abner, no! Stay." Arnold told him firmly. "Stay!"

The pig did, looking up at him with confusion as Arnold dashed away. The ship's firing engine had caught his attention and he knew he had to hurry, for it would launch any minute.

Reaching the rooftop of the Sunset Arms, Arnold came to see that he had only one way to get on board. The arm retracted into the cargo hold, with Helga's pod inside, securing her along with pods similar to hers.

The gap separating both buildings wasn't too far, and it wasn't a high drop, but it would lead to severe or fatal injuries if he wasn't careful.

But Arnold had no time to contemplate as he saw the cargo door slowly closing. He had to do this. For Helga. He ran as quick as he could, boosting his speed, and jumped with all his might!...

--

And landed, just barely making it, into the cargo hold of the ship just as the doors closed behind him. He took a breath, wincing at the pain of having twisted his ankle a little in the landing, but shook it off. Now was not the time.

"Helga!" He could see her pod up on one of the higher decks.

He climbed up a ladder, but was nearly thrown off balance as the ship trembled, accompanied by a deafening roar. This was it, the ship was blasting off.

After a moment, it lifted off!

On the ground outside, Abner watched as the rocket ship blasted off into the sky, watching as his master was leaving Earth...


End file.
